Sanguine Memories
by AnimeFreaks13
Summary: Sequel to Wind and Water 'Our flesh and blood and bones lie beneath this land' They were all so close. So connected forever. 'I was told of a great way to end a book. But I believe this is the beginning of another story'
1. The Bad News

Dun dun dun! The long awaited Sequel is here! Took me forever to figure out how to establish this one...-weep- -cry- I really don't like how this turned out. My favorite chapter is the first one, followed by the last chapter. I don't like the other chapters.

Whatever, hope you all enjoy!

PreNote - Before the Story - This Sequel Is Only 5 Chapters Long!

**

* * *

Sanguine Memories**

**Chapter 1 - The Bad News**

'_Where am I?...I-it's so...so bright here...It's so...familiar...'_

The brightness suddenly reversed and became total darkness. A light shown about 20 feet away, glimmering in the vague shape of a cross...or something...

He covered his eyes with his arm to stop the light from blinding him. Once his eyes were used to it's brightness, and it had dimmed ever so slightly, he lowered his arm and looked to the form. Eyes widening, he breathed out one word...

"No..."

'_Not again...no...'_

A brunette was hanging in what appeared to be mid-air. His arms were out to the side, so he was in the basic form of a cross. His head was down, chin brushing against his chest. His eyes were closed, as if in sleep.

But the horror of the scene...wasn't his position...

Blood dripped from somewhere in his hair on his head, down his face, and fell slowly off his chin. He wore his captain's outfit, but the sleeves were torn off and the basics of the outfit had been torn so that the outfit was merely rags on him. His arms were covered in cuts and bruises...According to his memory, there were more there than last time...

He scanned the brunette like before and froze. A dagger...piercing deeply into the very _heart_ of the teen...blood staining the pure white clothing he wore and dripping from the blade...sickeningly enjoying his torment. It was a bigger, yet still deathly sharp dagger this time...

And the blood dripping on his face fell into his eyes and made it seem he was crying...

Tears welled up in his eyes too, real ones, to cascade down his tanned cheeks in rivulets...like an endless river...

"NO KIRA!" he yelled in anguish, falling to his knees and feeling like he would sink through the endlessly black floor...never to surface again...Just...like the last time...But this time it was worse...

His yell echoed until it reached what edge this abyss had, when it finally came to an end. A red feather floated down from somewhere above, landing next to his right hand, tickling his fingers. He opened his eyes and stared at it for a moment before moving to pick it up.

Just as he had lifted it off the floor, the flower burst into flames, and vanished. He gasped, but could not feel any pain from holding the remaining fire. The cheerfully burning flames flew from his hands, and he watched it as it went.

'_I...remember this...'_

The fire circled Kira's dead, poised body...and cherry blossoms fell from the sky. It seemed so magical to him, like it always had...

The flames extinguished, but the petals continued to fall. As he watched, Kira's clothing began to change...

He wore a long sleeved white shirt with golden bands at his wrists, white pants with gold bands at his ankles, and weird over shirt like thing. It was purple, the ends of it's open, short sleeves were bordered in gold, as was the low neck and the bottom edge, which hung down around his legs in the front and back but not on the sides. A brown sash was tied around his waist to hold the shirt and a brown ribbon like object tied the neck of the shirt and hung out beautifully.

All of his cuts remained, and the dagger remained poised in Kira's chest...but it dissolved into nothing but dust in the nonexistent wind mere moments later.

If his eyes weren't wide enough, they widened even further when white wings sprouted from the brunette's back...and even though he'd seen them before...they were still beautiful...

'_Wh-what's happening?...Why am I...Why am I reliving this _nightmare_!'_

Lavender eyes slowly opened, dead at first but gaining light...Kira's head rose and he looked directly in the other one's eyes. His lips moved but no sound was made. But the other boy could hear his words...not in his head...but in his heart.

"_I hear you..."_ his eyes held a softness like never before. _"I...trust you..."_

Whatever bonds had held him vanished as his wings flapped once, blowing air everywhere and making him cover his face to protect it from sudden dust. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Kira's were shut in pain. His eyes widened, but he had no voice anymore...

"_ATHRUN!"_

-

"NO!" Athrun yelled as he sat bolt upright in his bed.

Gasping for breath he looked around. He was in his bedroom, with the expensive looking curtains drawn across the windows even though it was likely past noon by now. He looked away from the window to focus on the deep pain in his heart...

Last time...last time was just before the bomb exploded in Fallal...Last time...it didn't hurt this much...So why _now_?

He turned his head to look at the curtains again and sighed.

'_Two years...it's been two years since we parted ways...Since then I've wished for nothing more than for him to come back...Him and the rest of the crew...I miss them...Lacus and I decided last week we were going to get married if they didn't return in 2 more weeks...so there's only one to go...'_

He looked around the room and spotted his mother's necklace.

'_It all started over that necklace...a silly thing, isn't it...? But I'm glad for it's silliness...It brought me to Kira so I could learn a valuable lesson.'_

The door burst open suddenly, revealing a distressed looking maid.

"Master Zala! In the dock! It's the Freedom! It's back!" she called happily, and Athrun's head shot to her with a small gasp.

"What? Really?" his voice quieted at the last word, and the maid nodded before leaving so he could get ready.

Athrun began to get dressed as he thought.

'_Does this have anything to do with my dream...the last time I had it, Kira nearly died...'_

-

The only thing Athrun would say was truly _weird_ about this return was that...no one was screaming hello...

He, Lacus, Dearka, Flay, Sai, Mir, and even Yzak's mom were there. Mrs. Joule had come to live in Heliopolis by Lacus's request and as such had lived here for 2 years.

Athrun couldn't tell if the twins were on the deck, but they weren't greeting either...

When the ship was fully docked, the ramp was let down. Instead of Kira walking down it though...it was Yzak...After a short hug with his mom, Yzak turned to the others.

"...Nice...to see you all again." Yzak said curtly, if not reluctantly. In fact, everything about him seemed reluctant.

"Equally." Athrun nodded, wondering what was going on.

"I speak on behalf of the whole crew when I say...We wish this visit was for a...a happier occasion..." he averted his eyes to the side and down.

"What do you mean?" Lacus asked.

"The...In a recent battle, a lot of firepower was against us...It was...disastrous..." his voice became quieter as he spoke, as if he was trying to hide from something he was afraid of.

"But the ship's fine!" Sai pointed out. Yzak shot him a hate-filled glare.

"It _was_ disastrous. So shut up." he then went back to his secluded behavior. "Three days ago...it was three days ago."

-

"_Kira had the flu until the day before, that may have been why...Why he didn't sense them until they were right on top of us. By then, I suppose it was already to late for us. The Freedom was going to sink."_

"Captain! Captain there's an entire fleet of ships approaching sir!" Natarle called out suddenly. Kira burst from his room and looked around.

"Impossible...I didn't..." he suddenly got an onslaught of fierce fighting will and greed. "Nevermind..." he muttered.

"Sir?" Yzak asked.

"Get ready for battle, they caught us by surprise but we can still win this." Kira looked at him and the smile was so sincere he had to believe everything would be alright.

"_We had our guns loaded, but they were never shot. Our swords were out, but there were so many enemies...Kira knew it was coming before the rest of us did...And he acted on everything he knew, and everything he believed in."_

Cannon balls, hundreds of them. The 8 ships attacking must've had double the amount of cannons at one time that most ships had. They were naval ships after all...

"Raw...How far will you go? You're dead! You're already dead!" Kira yelled. "Aaaaaahhhhh!" he ran up the side of the mast he was next to and then jumped to the front of the ship.

Standing with one foot up on the pole and one on the ship, he spread his arms wide like an eagle about to take flight. About this time, the others could hear them coming too. All the soldiers on board were flipping out, they were going to be sacrificed! The Freedom's crew looked scared, and were standing almost perfectly still.

"Ah..." Yzak looked away from where the canons were coming. "Captain?"

Mwu, standing directly behind him, blinked and looked to their captain too. Tolle seemed to flip when he saw his captain.

"Captain!" he called. "What are you doing?" he asked, speaking of where Kira stood.

The brunette turned his head to look over his shoulder and gave them a warm smile. It seemed to cease their fears and they felt...no pain...Almost as if it were any other day on the Freedom, with peace pervading every corner of the ship and the seven seas...

-

"Then he turned away...I don't know if he was smiling when he looked at the canon balls..." Yzak said, hiding his eyes with his bangs. "But I never...Never saw him smile again..."

Everyone gasped as what was surely implied. Dearka was probably the only one...who noticed the tears running down Yzak's face.

"K-kira's not...not d-..." Athrun stopped short, fear evident in his voice.

"He's not dead...right Yzak? _Right?_" Lacus asked. "Tell me he's not! Tell me he's not _right now_!" she screamed, shaking her head as tears cascaded down her cheeks and she went to run up to Yzak.

Just as she went to run, Dearka stuck out his arm and stopped her. He walked to Yzak himself, and everyone watched closely as he did so...He was next to Yzak, but the silver haired 18 year old turned away from him, and Dearka's eyes softened...

He slowly moved his hand towards Yzak's face, and brushed away some of the tears on the pale left cheek he could only half see due to silver hair. Yzak flinched and looked at him slightly at the motion, seemingly frightened to death.

"It's true...By the look on your face and the tears in your eyes...I can tell..." Dearka whispered so only Yzak could even tell he was talking. Even so, you could tell he wanted to cry. "It's _hard _isn't it?..." the tears went to his eyes. "Losing someone you love?"

Yzak's eyes widened before he dropped his guard, latching onto the other boy and beginning to cry...as if to get rid of all the tears he had never cried, and then some.

Everyone watching had softened eyes and knew, whatever Dearka had done or said...it was magnificent.

* * *

Eep! Don't kill me! 


	2. The Book Of Legends

**Chapter 2 - The Book of Legends**

Yzak had taken to following Dearka around like a lost puppy. Athrun would have found it cute, if he weren't on the edge of depression.

In fact, half the town seemed to be depressed.

They'd gathered around to watch as the casket was brought off the ship. It was white, with the Freedom's symbol of blue wings on each side and the top. It was sad to see Mwu and Natarle at the front carrying it, Tolle at the back...But it was almost unbearable to see Cagalli carrying to other back end. She was trying _so _hard not to cry.

Now though, the casket was in Kira's room in Athrun's mansion. The plot was to be picked by Cagalli, and she was already back there searching.

The graves sat on a hill just outside the city. They were placed here so that, if the city were to flood, they would not wash away.

Athrun was on the balcony that Kira had gone to when Athrun had yelled at him about books. (Wind and Water, Chapter 3) The sea was just as beautiful as that day, the air just as fresh. But something dead in him kept the scene bleak as he remembered.

"Kira mentioned this place." a voice behind him broke through to him and he turned around.

Silver hair barely brushed his shoulders and icy blue eyes weren't so icy. Yzak was wearing a 3rd mate's clothes, likely the one's that used to be Dearka's.

"Yzak." he greeted with a certain level of coldness. "Where's your _master_?" he taunted.

"Shut up." Yzak said curtly. "Just cause you're depressed and sinking in it just like the rest of the god forsaken city doesn't mean you can take it out on me." Yzak nearly spat.

"What's so godforsaken about it?" Athrun asked, having received a metaphorical 'slap in the face.'

"That we come from it. Our flesh and blood and bones lies beneath this land." Yzak took up a spot next to Athrun, leaning on the railing and looking out and somewhat down.

"_Killing? Imagine what we went through! People whose villages were attacked! Whose parents weren't spared! Where did we go? Huh? To that haven called Heliopolis? I don't see what was so special about it!"_

Athrun's eyes seemed to soften a bit.

"So...that's what you meant. Your mom was alive, but you didn't know that at the time...I suppose it was right to despise this city then..." he looked down at the water below the ridge they were on.

"Not just me." Yzak said in an almost ironic way.

"Huh?" Athrun turned to look at the silver haired boy, but Yzak's face was hidden from him by long bangs.

"Kira and Cagalli are from this place too." Yzak smirked in that same ironic way.

"What?" Athrun asked in surprise, getting a bit closer to Yzak.

"Yea, the captain told me a few months ago. The reason why Manson's ship came to this city in the first place, 14 years ago." he said softly. "Their mother had died and their father was coming to get them."

Yzak raised his head and shook the hair from his eyes.

"I was picked up by Rau at that time. He probably didn't even care for me, just wanted someone to overcome Kira if he couldn't." Yzak laughed harshly. "But yea. I told you all I'd been with Kira from the beginning, didn't I? In that 'final battle' 2 years ago?" he turned to Athrun, who saw a small spark of the life Kira once triggered in everyone.

"Ah!" he gasped, turning and running back inside. Yzak blinked before following him.

-

Athrun burst through the doors to his study, Yzak close behind him.

"What are we doing in here?" Yzak asked in confusion as Athrun searched under a bunch of papers.

"Aha!" he pulled out a book.

It was hard bound and red with gold lettering.

_**The Freedom**_

_**The Stories and Legend of the Prince of the Sea**_

_**Athrun Zala**_

"This is a book I'm writing, it's not complete. But it contains all the information I've ever collected on the Prince of the Sea." Athrun explained, turning on all the lights he could find.

"You're writing a book on us?" Yzak asked skeptically.

"Actually, I already wrote one. This is the follow-up." he flipped through the first few pages and pointed dramatically at the one he stopped on. "Here!"

"There what?" Yzak walked over and read over his shoulder.

_I've researched all over my extensive library and the towns nearest mine. All of the legends point to transmission._

_Transmission, in this case, refers to the Prince giving his powers to someone else before they die. Sometimes they don't even realize that they've given their powers until much much later, when their ability to use those powers dwindle and fade. This sometimes occurs through bodily contact, dreams, or willing desire of the trade._

_I'm still not sure how it works, and I'm not sure anyone ever will be. This is one occurrence that no one should ever discover the meaning of._ (God I hate this book entry. It sounds so stupid!)

"And?" Yzak didn't understand. Athrun shut the book.

"I saw a spark in your eyes that I haven't seen for a long time Yzak." Athrun started, his hand running over the cover. "I think Kira gave a piece of himself to each of us." he turned to the silver haired teen. "I think he gave a piece of himself...to me..."

-

Whoots for Athrun and his books. No whoot for me and this sequel. I hate this sequel. -pout-

Yay for Fireworks shopping! Has anyone had a Heart of Flames? I think you just light it on fire. Flaming Heart! It was raining when we left the store, so I stuck the most ruinable fireworks under my incredibly long and baggy shirt. -big smile-


	3. The Letter

**Chapter 3 - The Letter**

Cagalli had sat by the grave of a woman all day, and the sun was now setting. She had cried most of her tears. The blonde didn't want to cry at the funeral...

_Via Hibiki_

"_Your legacy lies in the gifts you give."_

She turned from the gave and looked to the empty space next to it. There. That would be Kira's burial spot. And Cagalli would be buried next to him when she died. Athrun would be a bit behind them with the Clynes and his own parents.

She found it funny in an odd way. They were all so close. So connected...forever.

-

Mwu looked at the letter in his hands. He gave it a glare before shredding the paper into 4 pieces and letting it fly away in the sea wind.

"Hey kid." he called to Athrun, who was walking with Yzak. "I heard you were writing a book about the Freedom pirates."

Athrun looked from Yzak, who wouldn't look at him, to Mwu and nodded.

"Then let me tell you a story." he almost laughed it seemed.

"But I-"

"Don't worry. I'll tell the girls that you'll be a bit late. _Both_ of you." he glanced at Mwu before continuing on his walk to Lacus's house.

"So...a story huh?" Athrun asked, almost worried. Mwu nodded, serious.

"I only joined Kira because I was told to." he said bluntly, but Athrun could tell he wasn't lying.

"What?" was the only intelligible thought he formed into words...uh, a word.

"I fought that blonde masked guy, Rau, before." he began walking the same direction Yzak had, Athrun beside him.

"I scarred his face, and he left one on my back." he lifted his shirt as they paused, revealing a nearly straight scar up his left backside. Then they kept walking. "But he got away from me, and I needed medical attention anyway...So he didn't die."

"I was in the navy, ya know?" Mwu smirked at the look on Athrun's face. "When they dropped me, I went into a depression I've never beaten, until now. This one is so much worse. I began drinking and I didn't care if I lived or died, right?"

"Oh my, how could you?" Athrun asked sarcastically. Mwu gave him a mock glare.

"Oh well." he brushed it off, they were nearing the house and he wanted to finish this. "I got a letter one day, saying that a brunette and his sister, along with their friend, would be looking for crew mates. It gave descriptions of them and told me to join them. It was signed Rau Le Creuset."

"And you did what it said?" Athrun asked incredulously as they reached the door. Mwu shrugged.

"I figured I would get another shot at him that way. But I'm glad I joined him. The best experience of my life." he nearly laughed again, opening the door and letting Athrun go in first.

-

Lacus greeted them as happily as she could when the two males entered the entrance hall and joined them. Athrun, Lacus, Cagalli, Yzak, Mwu, Dearka, Natarle, and Seigel were there now. Seigel spoke.

"Alright, all of Kira's most trusted are here, or the ones we believe to be his most trusted. Cagalli has chosen the spot for Kira to be buried, so the viewing will be tomorrow, and the funeral the day after that." he informed them all, Athrun gave Cagalli a sympathetic look that no one saw. "Then maybe we can learn to heal."

"Is that all, father?" Lacus asked in a small voice, as though she were trying to be brave.

"Yes." he turned to the crew members from the Freedom. "You all can either stay in one of our houses, or on your ship. It's up to you."

"I believe that a lot of the crew would enjoy sleeping here, sir." Mwu took the liberty of answering for the rest of them. Yzak and Dearka nodded in agreement and bowed before the three went to leave. Dearka stopped and turned back to look at her.

"Cagalli?" he asked in confusion. The other two stopped and looked two, Athrun and Lacus as well.

"I...I'm going to stay on the ship." she said softly, as if she were a small girl.

At that moment, Athrun realized something. Even though on the outside Cagalli seemed just sad, she was really hurting on the inside. Something was broken that would take a long time to heal. She was hurting emotionally and mentally.

-

A few of the crew members stayed on the ship to protect Cagalli (from what?) and the rest of the crew took rooms at Lacus's and Athrun's houses. Mwu and Yzak were staying at Athrun's house, something about being closer to their captain that way.

Cagalli opened her eyes slowly and looked out the window. The moon was high and the stars were bright. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and looked around. The walls of her room were brown, just like everyone else's. Her bed was strangely fancier in some way than Kira's.

She ran her hands over the blue quilt Kira gave her for her first birthday on their new ship. He'd been so proud that he had been able to afford it. She forced the sensation of tears back and stood up, slowly opening her bedroom door and looking around. No one was out at this time, she smiled softly and walking softly down the hall and to the deck, then to Kira's door.

Her hand brushed over the door and she stood still for a moment, just staring silently at the letters on the door.

"Yamato Hibiki."

A constant reminder of the one they all loved so much. She pushed the door open, and it made no noise. She entered the room and sat on the bed. After closing the curtains around herself, she laid down on the bed. Her eyes closed softly as she reveled in the warmth that still lay in Kira's bed. His scent still lingered around her on the covers and the curtains around the bed.

The reminder caused her eyes to tear and they ran down her face in rivulets. The familiarity caused her to fade off to sleep. She lay that night on her captain's bed, her best friend's bed, her brother's bed.

* * *


	4. The Funeral

**Chapter 4 - The Funeral**

Athrun walked by the open casket in the main hall of his own house. The large room was almost filled to capacity just with people standing in it, let alone moving. But there was a long line of people wanting to see the young brunette once more before he was lay to rest.

He was not one of them.

It had been hard not falling into a depression so deep he couldn't crawl back out. It had been hard seeming strong with the bad news. He now looked in at his best friend in a white casket, eyes closed and looking peaceful. He was pale, but it was still as if he were just sleeping.

Athrun closed his eyes and turned, walking swiftly from the room.

He didn't dare stand in the entrance hall, as it echoed to much. So after exiting the main hall and entering the entrance hall, he turned and entered a room below the stairs. It was the first floor's entrance to the library.

The blue haired boy paused and looked around the room. Everything was quiet here, with no one around. The ladder was in the same place as it had been when Kira had last used it, but that was pure coincidence.

He could see the window seat that Kira used to sit on when no one was there. That one time that Athrun had ever seen him cry...

Before he realized what had happened, Athrun was sitting on the window seat, knees to his chest and arms wrapped around them. He rested his head on his arms and knees, staring at the wall blankly.

"Kira always said that we would have over 100 fortunes worth of gold before we turned 20, did you know?" a voice startled him back to reality. Cagalli stood leaning against a bookshelf, arms behind her back and looking out the window over his shoulder.

"Cagalli." he near whispered, and suddenly realized how close he'd come to crying by the sound of his voice.

"It's ironic. We have the gold, and we are rumored the best pirates ever to roam the seas, since Manson. But Kira didn't even live to be 20. He died at 18."

"Cagalli." he repeated, a little stronger.

"Athrun...He died." she managed to say after a long pause.

"No Cagalli. He didn't die. He's still alive. He'll always be here for us." Athrun shook his head, convincing himself too.

"No, he died. I never thought it could happen. There were always times when I thought he would die, anyone else would've...But he never did..." she choked. "He always survived."

"I've always thought he was some ethereal being that had dropped into my life to rid me of my hatred...But he was human..." Athrun said softly, looking at her with an almost defiant look in his eyes. "He helped my emotional wounds heal, and protected my life on many occasions." he continued. "But he is still here, he's a real ethereal being now."

Cagalli just stared at him, an emotion in her eyes that Athrun couldn't identify.

-

It was the day of the funeral, and almost the entire town that had known Kira (almost the entire town) was there to pay their last respects.

"Kira was a great person, a great man, and a great pirate." Athrun started. He had bee made to speak for the funeral. "He helped us all in many ways, both great and small. Kira was the Prince of the Sea, and no one else will hold that title for a long, long time." he revealed. "I always thought, that pirates were an evil type of human that didn't care for anyone else."

The Freedom's crew shifted nervously.

"But Kira and his crew are different. Kira has always been very nice, kind, and caring. He would do anything to help someone else, and I think that sometimes...we took that for granted." Athrun continued.

He paused and looked around.

Kira's crew was standing a bit behind the rest of the town. Tears were running silently down their faces. And as he watched, Athrun had the distinct impression that no of them had any second thoughts about becoming part of that 13 year old's crew 5 years ago. They all probably wouldn't change anything about their own captain. The feelings he was seeing on their faces, he wished he could put them into words for his book.

His book. It would be rewritten to include everything he had realized.

"I've always thought he was some ethereal being that had dropped into my life to rid me of my hatred...But he was human..." Athrun said he repeated what he'd told Cagalli. "He helped my emotional wounds heal, and protected my life on many occasions." he continued. "But he is still here, he's a real ethereal being now. And I believe that he will stay here with us forever."

Athrun lowered his head and bit back tears.

"That's all...Anyone else?" he waited for someone else to agree to speak before he walked to the near back of the crowd.

He could see the casket, held up so that everyone could see it. His emerald green eyes scanned the group slowly. Then they widened and his hand shot to the necklace around his neck.

'Impossible...'

Standing just behind the crowd, the end opposite the current speaker. Brown hair and lavender eyes. At 18, Kira hadn't changed one bit in Athrun's eyes. But...it couldn't be Kira. Kira was dead! Heck, he was standing at Kira's funeral!

"Kira..." he whispered almost inaudibly.

Lavender eyes turned to lock with emerald. The solemn yet somehow content frown-ish look on the younger boy's face instantly turned in to a large smile. Athrun blinked and the boy was gone.

"Kira." he smiled. And the tears he'd been holding back finally began to drop as everyone clapped, the last person willing (and able) walking away and back into the crowd.

Athrun used his right sleeve to rapidly brush away the remaining tears and walked over to Lacus. She was still crying, a lot. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and she placed her hands on his arms and lowered her head to hide her face with her hair.

_Kira Yamato Hibiki_

_The Grand Prince of the Sea_

'_We'll go wherever we're taken. That's fate, that's destiny. That's...adventure.'_


	5. The Decision

Wow! I actually forgot I hadn't posted this...Eheh...Sorry about that! -bow- Anyway, this is the last chapter.

**Chapter 5 - The Decision**

The crew of the Freedom was buzzing 3 days later. There was a spark of happiness for the first time in a long while.

Athrun looked out his window in wonder at all the noise from the docks as the ship got supplied and ready to sail. Then his head went back to the book before him. He flipped his pen in his hand before he wrote a bit more.

Closing the book, he stood up and carried it with him as he went to see what all the commotion was.

When he stepped on to the ship, it seemed that everything had just stopped. Everyone was staring at him...Then Yzak glared at them and gave him a look that was almost...pleading...

"Is that your book?" he asked, pointing to the red bound book under Athrun's arm.

"Yea." he answered, seeing that everyone had gone back to doing what they were supposed to do. "It's finished. I just need a way to end it, without sounding stupid."

"How about 'And so the torch is passed to me.'?" a female voice called out.

Athrun turned and looked at Cagalli in surprise. She wore her 1st Mate outfit and held the captain's outfit, Kira's, in her arms. She was smiling broadly, standing on the edge of the ship and looking down upon him.

"Cagalli?" he asked, and then he realized what she'd said. "What are you talking about?" he turned to look at Yzak, who wore the same smirk as Cagalli.

She hopped down next to him and draped the Captain's cloak around his shoulders.

"I made the decision while at the funeral, and I've been thinking about it ever since. So, now that everything's ready, it's time to tell you." she said vaguely.

Athrun was messing with the cloak. He took it off and looked at it intently. Yep, this was a captain's cloak. Kira's cloak/jacket thingy.

"But this is-" he stopped his sentence when he realized what Cagalli was telling him.

On the back, instead of saying 'Yamato,' it read 'Zala.'

"Cagalli?" he asked, looking up at her. She smiled a strange smile at him and he turned his head away, towards the captain's room.

Under the plaque that read 'Yamato Hibiki' was another one that had 'Zala' on it too...

"I'd be honored. We'd all be honored. If you would be our captain." Cagalli bowed, followed by Yzak.

"I'm gonna think I fall short." Athrun said softly. Then he remembered the day of the funeral, he'd seen Kira. "And I'll never be able to take Kira's place, or fill his shoes."

To Athrun, everything beyond the three of them had become eerily quiet, but he didn't care. They were looking at him sadly, Cagalli and Yzak. Athrun looked at the jacket for a long while before he spoke again.

"It wouldn't be you-" he said, looking at the two. "-but me, who'd be honored to be your captain." he smiled.

Suddenly, the whole ship was full of cheers and Athrun realized it hadn't been his imagination. Everything had gone quiet again!

Cagallli cheered loudly and jumped him, knocking them both to the ground.

"I don't know what I would've done if you'd said no..." she whispered in his ear.

"Um...become Captain yourself?" he offered, earning him a playful punch from the blonde.

-

_"I was told of a great way to end a book. But I believe this is the beginning of another story._

'_And so the torch is passed to me,' the new captain of the pirate ship Freedom. We have all inherited the powers of the Prince of the Sea, his friends and I._

_This book, once more, contains all that I have ever learned of the Prince of the Sea. It also records the history of the Freedom's second and third mate. There are many stories left to learn, many mysterious left to solve. But part of the fun in life is not knowing. Part of the joy is the ability to learn._

_Athrun Zala"_

Athrun closed the book carefully and placed the red bound book in the drawer of his new desk.

"The Freedom. The Stories and Legends of the Prince of the Sea." he muttered softly before pulling out a new book and smiling at the blank pages. "A new story."

_**The Freedom**_

_**Life After Death**_

_**Athrun Zala**_

He opened to the first page and began to write.

"_This volume of **The Freedom** will be different from the other two of it's kind. I, Athrun Zala, will be recording my adventures as captain of the Freedom. Whether or not anyone delights in knowing what goes on daily on a pirate ship is unknown. But my books are for those with a curious mind._

_November 2, Day 1_

_Today is my first true day as Captain Zala. We have moved out to sea now. This morning I sat at thehelm and watched as Heliopolis shrank into the distance. I still can not believe that Kira is truly gone from our lives._

_It is cold on the ship, with winter setting in, but we'll weather it just fine. And life will go on from here. Kira Yamato Hibiki will never fade from the memory of those who have met him, or those who have read my books, hopefully. In this way he will live on forever and I won't be sad._

_I just pray that I don't let this ship, it's crew, or it's former captain down. And I dream that the next Prince of the Sea, when all of us with Kira's leftover power have gone, is as nice as the one we've just lost. But for now I live with what I've been through, and I go on, as captain of the Freedom._

_Day 1 End."_

-

Fin! Well? I feel Athrun may have rambled in his log, but oh well.


End file.
